If Gabby Giffords Was A Soldier …

… she might not be getting the same level of care. Peter J. Boyer underscores an injustice:

[I]n the important next phase of Giffords’ recovery—months of intensive rehabilitation aimed at maximizing her quality of life—Giffords is receiving a level of care unattainable by thousands of Americans who have been wounded on the actual battlefield. That’s because the costly treatment Giffords is receiving at The Institute for Rehabilitation and Research at Memorial-Herman is being paid for by the federal government, but such care for U.S. troops is not.

… Most military personnel … are covered by an insurance plan called TRICARE, which does not cover key elements of cognitive rehabilitation therapy. As revealed in a series of investigative reports by the non-profit news enterprise, ProPublica, TRICARE claims that the benefits of cognitive rehabilitation therapy are not well enough established to warrant providing it to troops. TRICARE bases this assertion on the findings of a study commissioned by TRICARE itself, and which ProPublica’s reporting has found to be “deeply flawed.”